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NCAA.com | September 26, 2013

DI WSOC Weekend Preview

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No. 1 Virginia

The Cavaliers will continues their defense of the top spot in the coaches' poll with two more conference games this weekend. On Thursday night, Virginia will play at Duke, while on Sunday it will face off with No. 21 Maryland. Makenzy Doniak will look to continue her hot play, as she scored twice on Sunday against Pittsburgh and has scored in seven of the Cavaliers' past eight games.

Duke has fallen out of the top 25 following two losses and a draw in the past two weeks, and stands at 4-3-2 overall. Maryland, which will playing at Virginia, is coming off a win against Wake Forest, which dropped from No. 6 to No. 9 in this week's rankings. The Terrapins are 6-3-0 this season and will have already played at No. 5 Notre Dame on Thursday.

No. 2 Stanford

Stanford's lone game this weekend will come when it travels to Boulder to play against Colorado to open its conference slate. The Cardinal are coming off an overtime win against Santa Clara on Sunday. Courtney Verloo scored the winning goal to complete a hat trick in the game, as Stanford improved to 7-0-1 on the year.

Colorado, which received one vote for the top 25 this week, is 8-1-0 and coming off wins at the Omni Soccer Classic last weekend against Stony Brook and UNLV.

No. 3 Florida State

The Seminoles, led by goalkeeper Kelsey Wys, will play two more conference games this weekend. Wys was named the ACC player of the week last week after shutting out both North Carolina and NC State. She leads the conference with seven shutouts through 10 games.

Florida State (8-0-2) will first take on Miami (6-3-0) at home on Thursday. On Sunday, Florida State will hit the road as it plays at Clemson (5-2-2), which most recently put up 14 goals in a shutout of Alabama A&M.

No. 4 UCLA

UCLA will enter conference play having not given up a goal in its past three matches, including 2-0 and 3-0 wins last weekend against Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount, respectively. Overall, the Bruins are 8-1-0 this season and are supported by seven goals from Darian Jenkins.

The Bruins' first conference opponent will be Arizona. The Wildcats will host UCLA on Sunday and stand at 5-1-3 following a win against Hawaii last weekend.

No. 5 Notre Dame

Notre Dame will look to match its season-starting winning streak of five games when it hosts No. 21 Maryland on Thursday. The Irish have allowed just one goal in their past four games, which include a 1-0 win at then-No. 1 North Carolina and a late-game winner against Syracuse last week. Maryland is 6-3-0 this season and will follow up this matchup by playing No. 1 Virginia on Sunday.

The Irish will then stay at home to host Pittsburgh on Sunday. The Panthers are currently on a four-game losing streak and have yet not won in the ACC.

No. 6 North Carolina

The Tar Heels, which have fallen five spots from No. 1 two weeks ago after a pair of 1-0 losses, will try to continue to get back on track as it plays at Pittsburgh on Thursday in its only game this weekend. North Carolina (8-2-0) started to rebound with a 4-0 win at Miami on Sunday, helped by a hat trick from Crystal Dunn.

Pittsburgh is coming off a 3-1 loss to No. 1 Virginia last weekend, and is 4-5-1 overall and 0-4-0 in the ACC.

No. 7 Florida

Florida, which won its first SEC game last Friday against Alabama, will hit the road in conference play for the first time on Friday as it plays at No. 24 Mississippi. The Rebels are on a four-game win streak, and won their conference opener against Arkansas last weekend. Overall, Mississippi is 8-1-1 in 2013.

The Gators (7-1-1) will then stay on the road to play at Missouri on Sunday. The Tigers are 5-4-0 and won their conference opener at Mississippi State.

No. 8 Penn State

Penn State (7-1-1) has jumped up to No. 8 in the rankings on the heels of a six-game winnings streak. Most recently, the Nittany Lions opened conference play with a 3-2 double-overtime win against Northwestern. They will look to continue their success with two home games this weekend.

On Thursday, Penn State will play against Purdue. The Boilermakers are 5-3-1 and fell in their first conference game to Wisconsin. The Nittany Lions will then host undefeated Indiana on Sunday. The Hoosiers' lone blemish on the year is a tie with Loyola Chicago, and they most recently beat Minnesota in their conference opener.

No. 9 Wake Forest

The Demon Deacons will look to rebound from their first loss of the season when they travel to take on Boston College on Thursday. Last Sunday, Wake Forest fell 1-0 to Maryland and moved to 7-1-1 on the season. Boston College will come in at 4-5-0 overall and 1-3-0 in the conference.

Wake Forest will then stay north for a matchup with Syracuse on Sunday. The Orange (4-5-1) got their first point in conference play in a tie with Duke last Sunday.

No. 10 Georgetown

The Hoyas (8-0-1) stayed at No. 10 this week despite not winning for the first time this season when they drew with UCF last Friday. They got back to their winning ways against Connecticut last Sunday, and will look to stay there with an afternoon home game against DePaul to start conference play on Thursday. Depaul is 6-1-1 on the year, its best start in program history.

Georgetown will continue its conference slate when it hosts Xavier on Sunday. The Musketeers are 7-1-1 this season, with six of the seven wins being shutouts.